Seminario generale INFN/DIFI

The PRAE (Platform for Research and Applications with Electrons) facility under construction in the Orsay campus of the Paris-Sud University, is a multidisciplinary platform based on a high-performance new generation linear accelerator delivering a pulsed electron beam in the energy range 30-70 MeV, upgradable to 140 MeV. This project originates from the complementary expertise of several local scientific research communities involved in radiobiology, subatomic physics, instrumentation and particle accelerator technologies to perform multidisciplinary studies of significant impact. The 50 MeV to 140 MeV electron energy range will be suitable to perform a series of new promising feasibility and radiobiological studies of less destructive radiotherapy treatments relying on space fractionated sub-millimetric pencil beams and other novel techniques. In the field of subatomic physics, we are aiming at a significant contribution to the worldwide effort of understanding the puzzle of the proton charge radius. The ProRad experiment will investigate electron proton elastic scattering to accurately measure the proton electric form factor in an unexplored ultra-low four-momentum squared range. Additionally, a fully equipped instrumentation platform will provide the tools to develop next generation of detectors.

This seminar will discuss the PRAE facility with an emphasis on the scientific objectives of radiobiological and subatomic physics studies.